JPH10310145A - Container for thin plate - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it possible, relating to a plurality of thin plates such as glass substrates for a plane indication device, to store or transport the thin plates without breaking them or without dirtying the surface of the thin plates. SOLUTION: There are provided lower end-holding cushioning members 30 each of which elastically holds the lower end part of thin plates 34 held inside a container 2, upper end-holding cushioning members 50 each of which elastically holds the upper end part of the thin plates, lateral side-cushioning members 42 each consisting of an elastic member having virtually in parallel guide grooves in which the two lateral end parts of the thin plates 34 are held in a freely sliding manner, and lateral side spacers 40 for attaching the lateral side-cushioning members 42 to the inside wall surface of the container 2, leaving an adjustable distance between the lateral side-cushioning members 42 and the inside wall surface of the container 2. The height of the lower end-holding cushioning member 30 can be adjusted by a bottom spacer 35.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thin plate container, and more particularly, to a thin plate container capable of storing or transporting a thin plate used as a component of a flat panel display or the like without damage. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a flat display device such as a liquid crystal display device or a plasma display device, electrodes and partitions are formed on a surface of a glass substrate by screen printing or the like in a manufacturing process, and the glass substrate is formed in another factory. You may want to assemble or rework with. In that case, a container for storing and transporting the substrate is required so that the glass substrate is not damaged and the surface of the substrate is not stained.

[0003]

However, the conventional container cannot transport a thin plate such as a glass substrate used for a flat panel display so that the thin plate is not damaged and the surface of the substrate is not stained. Was.

Further, since the opening of the conventional container is provided at the top of the container, it is necessary to insert the thin plate from above and take it out from above, and it is necessary to take the thin plate into and out of the container without breaking it. It was difficult.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above situation, and is intended to store or transport a plurality of thin plates such as a glass substrate used for a flat panel display so as not to be damaged and the surface of the thin plates is not stained. It is an object of the present invention to provide a container for a thin plate that can be used.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a thin plate container according to the present invention comprises: a lower end holding buffer member for elastically holding a lower end of a thin plate accommodated in a container; An upper end holding buffer member for elastically holding the upper end of the thin plate and a guide groove in which both side ends of the thin plate are slidably housed are formed substantially in parallel, and a side formed of a member having elasticity. And a side spacer for attaching the side buffer member to the inner wall surface of the container so as to adjust the distance between the side buffer member and the inner wall surface of the container.

A pallet into which a claw of a forklift can be inserted is mounted on the bottom of the container. One outer surface of the container, which is parallel to a thin plate accommodated in the container, serves as a bottom support surface when the container is turned over. It is preferred that it is comprised.

The lower end holding buffer member and the upper end holding buffer member are not particularly limited, but a plate-like elastic body having elasticity can be exemplified. Preferably, the lower end holding buffer member is adjustable in height from the bottom surface of the container by the bottom spacer.

[0009] The upper end holding buffer member has a substantially U-shaped cross section, and is provided on both sides of both ends in the longitudinal direction.
A pair of mounting rods extending along the longitudinal direction are mounted, and each end of each mounting rod may be configured to be removably mounted in an engagement groove of an adapter mounted in the container. .

[0010] The lower end holding buffer member is mounted on the bottom of a mounting groove formed so as to extend in a direction substantially perpendicular to the lower end holding groove of the lower end holding block in which a plurality of lower end holding grooves are formed. A string-like rubber material may be used.

[0011]

In the container for a thin plate according to the present invention, the thin plate such as a glass substrate accommodated in the container has the upper end of each thin plate held by the upper end holding buffer member, and the lower end of each thin plate is held by the lower end elastic holding member. Will be retained. That is, the plurality of thin plates are held so as to be sandwiched in the vertical direction. Therefore, even if vibration is applied to the container, the thin plate is elastically held in the up-down direction, and is not damaged. Further, since there is a space between these thin plates, the surface of the thin plates is not contaminated. In particular, if an inert gas such as nitrogen gas is blown between the thin plates, it is possible to effectively prevent dust and dust from adhering to the surface of the thin plates.

Further, the upper end holding buffer member may be substantially U-shaped in cross section.
In the case of a belt-shaped band member, the upper edge of the thin plate is covered with the upper-end holding buffer member, and the holding of the upper end is ensured. It has a strong structure.

According to the present invention, the mounting interval between the side cushioning member in which the guide grooves in which both side ends of the thin plate are slidably accommodated and formed substantially in parallel and the inner wall surface of the container is replaced with the side spacer. Can be adjusted. Therefore, by preparing a plurality of types of side spacers, it is possible to accommodate thin plates having different horizontal widths in the same container only by replacing the side spacers.
That is, thin plates such as glass plates corresponding to different screen sizes can be transported or stored in the same container only by replacing the side spacers. If the thin plate has a different vertical width, the bottom spacer is also replaced.

In the present invention, the pallet into which the claw portion of the forklift can be inserted is mounted on the bottom of the container, so that the container can be easily transported. Also, one outer surface of the container parallel to the thin plate accommodated in the container,
By configuring so as to serve as the bottom support surface when lying down, the work of taking in and out the thin plate from the container becomes extremely easy.
That is, when the container is turned over and the upper opening of the container is opened, the opening of the container faces sideways, and thin plates arranged at predetermined intervals in the vertical direction can be easily taken out therefrom. A robot hand or the like may be used for taking in and taking out the thin plate. Even when the container is turned over, the thin plates inside the container do not come into contact with each other because their side portions are held by the side buffer members.

[0015]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below based on embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an exploded cross-sectional view of a container according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view taken along the line II-II of FIG. 1, showing a partial cross section, and FIG. FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing an attached state of a member, FIG. 4 is a view seen from an opening side in a state where a container is laid down, and FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing an upper end holding buffer member according to another embodiment of the present invention. 6 (A),
FIG. 7B is a schematic view showing a main part of the upper end holding member, and FIG.
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a lower end holding buffer member according to another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7B is a sectional view of a main part thereof.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a thin plate container 2 according to the present embodiment has a rectangular container body 4 having an opening 3 at the top. The container body 4 is made of a composite material of a metal such as aluminum and a synthetic resin.

A lid 6 is detachably mounted on the opening 3 of the container body 4. The lid 6 is made of the same material as the container body 4. A one-touch lock member 8 is mounted near the opening of the opposed side wall of the container body 4. The lid 6 is fixed to the opening of the container body 4 by the lock member 8, and hermetically seals the inside. When the lid 6 is opened, the lid 6 can be removed in a one-touch manner by operating the lock member 8.

A sight glass for checking the inside may be attached to one side wall of the container body 4, and the inside of the container may be checked through the sight glass. In the present embodiment, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, a card insertion portion 5 is formed on the side wall of the container 2, and a card in which information on a thin plate housed in the container is described can be inserted into the card insertion portion.

At the bottom of the container body 4, a pallet 16
Is installed. A claw portion of a forklift can be inserted into the pallet 16 so that the forklift can be used when the container 2 is moved.

A desiccant box (not shown) may be mounted inside the container body 4 to store a desiccant such as silica gel. This is for removing moisture inside the container 2.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, a bottom plate 18 is mounted on the upper surface of the pallet 16, and a bottom spacer 35 is detachably connected to the bottom plate 18 with bolts or screws. . On the bottom spacer 35, a substrate 33 to which a plate-shaped lower end holding buffer member 30 is adhered is detachably mounted with bolts or screws. In the present embodiment, the lower end holding buffer member 30 is formed of a member having elasticity, such as styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR), butadiene rubber (BR), isoprene rubber (IR), and nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR). , Diene rubbers such as chloroprene rubber (CR), butyl rubber (IIR), ethylene-propylene-diene terpolymer rubber (EPDM), acrylic rubber, chlorosulfonated polyethylene rubber, fluorine rubber, urethane rubber, polysulfide rubber, or these Or urethane or nylon foam.

The substrate 33 is made of, for example, an aluminum composite plate, and is adhered to the lower end holding buffer member 30. The lower end of the glass substrate 34 as a thin plate abuts on the lower end holding buffer member 30, and is elastically supported.

In the present embodiment, the bottom spacer 35 is formed of an angle material, and is configured to be detachable from the bottom plate 18 and the substrate 33. A plurality of spacers 35 having different heights are prepared in advance, and
The spacer 35 is selected according to the vertical width of the glass substrate 34 as a thin plate to be accommodated therein.

As shown in FIG. 1, on the inner surface of the lid 6, an upper end holding buffer member 50 made of a member having the same elasticity as the lower end holding buffer member 30 is mounted.
The upper end holding buffer member 50 is adhered to a substrate 53 similar to the substrate 33, and the substrate 53 is attached to the inner surface of the lid 6 with screws or the like. The upper end of the glass substrate 34 comes into contact with the upper end holding buffer member 50 with the lid 6 closed, and the height of the bottom spacer 35 is set to an appropriate height. Members 50 and 30
It is held elastically so as to be sandwiched from above and below.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, side cushioning members 42 adhered to a substrate 43 are mounted via side spacers 40 inside the side walls located at both ends in the X direction of the container body 4. is there. The side buffer member 42 is formed of a member having elasticity similar to the lower end holding buffer member 30 and the upper end holding buffer member 50 described above.

In the present embodiment, the side spacers 40 are formed of an angle material as shown in FIG. 3, and are used for adjusting the width when the glass substrates 34 having different widths in the X direction are accommodated in the container 2. Used for

The side buffer member 42 is formed with guide grooves 44 extending in the vertical direction at predetermined intervals in the Y direction and substantially parallel to each other. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, both end portions of the glass substrate 34 are slidably mounted in these guide grooves 44. However, the holding of the glass substrate 34 is performed by the above-described lower end holding buffer member 38 and the upper end holding buffer member 50, and the guide groove 44 of the side buffer member 42 serves only as a guide. From such a viewpoint, the groove width of the guide groove 44 is formed to be preferably 5 to 40%, more preferably 10 to 25% larger than the thickness of the glass substrate 34.

Substrate 43 to which side buffer member 42 is adhered
Is, as shown in FIG.
0 is detachably attached. Also, the spacer 40
Is detachably attached to a side plate of the container body 4 by bolts 46. Inside the spacer 40,
The nut 47 is joined, and the bolts 45 and 46 can be screwed together.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the side cushioning members 42 are mounted on one side plate at two locations in the vertical direction of the container. In the present embodiment,
As shown in FIG. 2, the frame 60 is configured to be a flat plane so that one outer surface of the container 2 parallel to the glass substrate 34 accommodated in the container 2 becomes a bottom support surface when the container 2 is turned down in the direction of the arrow V. I have. With this configuration, with the container 2 lying down in the direction of the arrow V, the frame 60 acts as a support bottom surface of the container 2 and the opening 3 of the container 2 faces sideways as shown in FIG. Moreover, the glass substrate 34 housed inside the container 2
Are held between the side cushioning members 42, 42, and are arranged in parallel at predetermined intervals along the vertical direction without contacting each other. Therefore, the glass substrates 34 can be easily taken out one by one. When taking the glass substrate 34 in and out, a robot hand or the like may be used.

In the container 2 for a thin plate according to the present embodiment,
As shown in FIG. 1, the glass substrate 34 accommodated in the container 2 has an upper end portion of each glass substrate 34 in contact with an upper end holding buffer member 50 and a lower end portion of each glass substrate held by the lower end elastic holding member 30. Is done. That is, the plurality of glass substrates 34 are held so as to be sandwiched in the vertical direction. Therefore, even if vibration is applied to the container 2, the glass substrate 3
Since 4 is elastically held in the vertical direction, it is not damaged. Since there is a space between the glass substrates 34, the surface of the glass substrate 34 is not contaminated. In particular, if an inert gas such as a nitrogen gas is blown between the glass substrates 34, the glass substrate 3
4 can be effectively prevented from adhering to the surface of dust and dirt.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be variously modified within the scope of the present invention.

For example, the structure shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 can be adopted as the upper end holding buffer member. The upper end holding buffer member 50a shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 is a band-shaped buffer member having a U-shaped cross section, and is made of, for example, the same material as the upper end holding buffer member 50 shown in FIG. Preferably has a structure in which the surface of the sponge is covered with an antistatic sheet. The antistatic sheet is used to prevent static electricity.

The mounting rods 52 held on both sides of the upper end holding buffer member 50a along the longitudinal direction are made of, for example, stainless steel, and as shown in FIG.
Oa protrudes from both ends in the longitudinal direction.
As shown in FIG. 6 (A), both ends of these mounting rods 52 are adapted to engage with the groove walls of the engagement grooves 58 of the adapter 56. A stopper member 59 shown in FIG. 5 is detachably mounted on the adapter 56, whereby the mounting rod 52 is fixed in the engagement groove 58 of the adapter 56. As a result, each upper end holding buffer member 50a is As shown in FIG. 6A, each glass substrate 34 is held along the longitudinal direction X so as to cover the upper edge. As shown in FIG. 6B, the upper end holding buffer member 50a may be formed by continuously forming a band-shaped buffer member having a U-shaped cross section, and the mounting rods 5 arranged at predetermined intervals.
2, the adapter 55 may be fixed to the engagement groove 58 of the adapter 55.

In the present embodiment, the upper end holding buffer member 50a
Is composed of a band member having a substantially U-shaped cross section,
The upper end edge of the glass substrate 34 is covered with the upper end holding buffer member 50a, so that the holding of the upper end is ensured, and the structure becomes strong not only in the vertical direction but also in the front, rear, left and right directions.

Further, in the present invention, the configuration of the lower end holding buffer member is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and may be, for example, the configuration shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 7, in this embodiment, the lower end holding buffer member 30a is the lower end holding buffer member 3 shown in FIG.
Instead of the 0 and the substrate 33, they are arranged on the inner bottom wall of the container body 4 at predetermined intervals along the X direction of the inner bottom wall. Each lower end holding buffer member 30a is made of, for example, a foamed resin. A mounting plate 31 is mounted on the bottom surface of the lower end holding buffer member 30a. The attachment plate 31 is made of, for example, a metal plate such as stainless steel, and is attached to the inner bottom wall of the container body 4 shown in FIG. 1 via a bottom spacer 35 using bolts, screws, or the like.

On the upper surface of the lower end holding buffer member 30a, a plurality of lower end holding grooves 32 are substantially parallel to the X direction in the Y direction (X direction).
(Substantially perpendicular to the direction) at predetermined intervals. As shown in FIG. 7B, the lower ends of the glass substrates 34 are inserted into these lower end holding grooves 32. That is, the number of the lower end holding grooves 32 is the number of glass substrates that can be mounted inside the container 2.

As shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B,
On the upper surface of the lower end holding buffer member 30a, a mounting groove 36 extending in a direction substantially perpendicular to the lower end holding groove 32 is formed so as to cross the center of the lower end holding groove 32. The groove depths of the lower end holding groove 32 and the mounting groove 36 are substantially the same, preferably 10 to 15 mm, more preferably 12 to 13 mm. A string-like elastic member 38 is mounted in the mounting groove 36. As shown in FIG. 7B, the lower end of the glass substrate 34 inserted along the lower end holding groove 32 is placed on the string-like elastic member 38 and is held by the elastic force.

[0040]

As described above, according to the thin plate container according to the present invention, even if vibration is applied to the container, the thin plate is elastically held in the vertical direction, so that it is not damaged. Further, since there is a space between these thin plates, the surface of the thin plates is not contaminated.

Further, according to the thin plate container according to the present invention, thin plates having different widths can be accommodated in the same container only by replacing the spacer. That is, thin plates such as glass plates corresponding to different screen sizes can be transported or stored in the same container only by changing the spacer.

Further, according to the thin plate container according to the present invention, the pallet into which the claw portion of the forklift can be inserted is mounted on the bottom of the container, so that the container can be easily transported. Further, by configuring the outer surface of the container parallel to the thin plate accommodated in the container to be the bottom support surface when the container is turned downside down, the operation of taking the thin plate out of the container becomes extremely easy.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded sectional view of a container according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view taken along the line II-II of FIG. 1, and is a view showing a partial cross section.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing an attached state of a side cushioning member.

FIG. 4 is a view of the container viewed from an opening side in a state where the container is laid down.

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing an upper end holding buffer member according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are schematic views showing a main part of an upper end holding member.

7 (A) is a perspective view of a lower end holding buffer member according to another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 (B) is a sectional view of a main part thereof.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2. Thin plate container 4. Container main body 6. Lid 30, 30a Lower end holding buffer member 33 Substrate 35 Bottom spacer 40 Side spacer 42 Side buffering member 44 Guide groove 50, 50a Upper end holding buffer member 53 ... substrate

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A lower end holding buffer member for elastically holding a lower end portion of a thin plate accommodated in a container, an upper end holding buffer member for elastically holding an upper end portion of the thin plate, and both end portions of the thin plate. A guide groove in which the guide groove is slidably formed is formed substantially in parallel, and a side cushioning member formed of a member having elasticity; and a distance between the side cushioning member and the inner wall surface of the container. A sheet container comprising: a side spacer adjustably mounting the side cushioning member to an inner wall surface of the container. 2. A pallet into which a claw portion of a forklift can be inserted is mounted on the bottom of the container, and one outer surface of the container parallel to a thin plate accommodated in the container serves as a bottom support surface when the container is turned over. The container for a thin plate according to claim 1, wherein the container is configured as follows.